Rebirth From Darkness
by Ashzaroth
Summary: Reborn as an Imp with no memories of his past life, Vex must carve out a place in this new world, or die trying.


**Nice to see you all again! I haven't died, and have no real excuse for not writing. I've been busy.**

 **I've had this idea percolating around my head for a while and I finally had to write it. I'm not giving up on Dio or his dimensional journey, but writing this on the side for now.**

 **This is inspired by Re:Monster. I read a story by another writer and wanted to take my own shot at it. This will in no way include the canon story, so no cameos. To those of you who don't know what Re: Monster is, you'll find out.**

 **I'm going to try writing on both of my stories more often now, as I've missed writing.**

 **So, enjoy this, and please leave a review.**

 **Ash out.**

" **Speech"= A normal conversation**

' **Speech'= Thoughts, telepathy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Re: monster. It belongs to the author, Kanekiru Kogitsune, and whoever else may own it.**

* * *

Darkness was all he felt at first. An oppressive darkness that prevented him from seeing or moving. He floated along in the void, no body with which to move, no eyes to see with, no memories from which to draw conclusions of.

Why was he here?

Where was here?

Who was he?

No answers came forth, no disembodied voice spoke to him. He just floated along with no way to discern the passage of time, questions burning within him.

It was a while before he could detect any change. It was subtle at first. The darkness would contract, and he could feel something within him _shift._ Then it would stop and nothing would happen.

The cycle repeated numerous times, each lasting longer and growing increasingly unpleasant.

Then the process changed. The darkness wrapped around him, began to grant him a form. He lacked a mouth to scream as he felt his organs form, and his limbs weren't yet fully formed to escape the searing agony as the essence of life began to flow within him. The procedure seemed to last a small eternity, until without warning it stopped.

Then came the panic as he was suddenly burdened with the need to breath, and no air seemed to exist within this void to draw from. He had eyes but could only see an all-encompassing darkness. Panic gave way to desperation, and he floundered around searching for an escape.

Then the darkness pushed him forward, speeding him along until it crushed him against what seemed to be a barrier. Yet instead of yielding, the resistance provided by the barrier only seemed to spur the darkness on because it began to push harder. He was crushed relentlessly by the darkness, and just before he began to think the pressure would kill him, the barrier began to give.

It was slow at first, but it stretched, and as it stretched the darkness pushed harder. He began to push at the wall, clawing and tearing at it in hope of finding an escape.

The darkness pulsed behind him, and after a particularly painful push his hands passed through the barrier first. The first thing on his mind wasn't the blissful lack of pain now present on his arms, but the breeze of air he could feel flow on them. He pushed with a renewed vigor, the burning in his lungs the only fuel needed. As the rest of his body encountered the edge of the barrier it was also relentlessly pressed against it. And just when he thought his newly formed body would tear apart at the seams, a final heave throe from both him and the darkness ejected him through the barrier and to the world outside.

* * *

The first thing I felt was relief. No longer did my lungs burn or the very fibers of my body scream in agony. Instead the lack of pain was the most wondrous feeling in the world, and I was almost content enough to lay there forever if it meant never experiencing that pain again.

Almost.

Opening my eyes required a herculean effort, but with great difficulty I did. The sight that greeted me was certainly unique. Moonlight trickled in from the cracks of a battered roof, yet I could see with as much clarity as if it was sunlight instead. The roof, if it could be called that anymore, was dilapidated to a point beyond disrepair and well into the borders of neglect. Entire sections were missing, and the large boulders beneath most of those sections indicated that the roof had caved in. Wildlife had long ago taken over the roof and walls, vines, mushrooms and flowers having grown to an alarming degree. The walls were still standing, with only one of them carrying a gaping hole. All four of them were filled with canvasses that once probably contained drawings or figures carved from the very walls. Yet time and what seemed to be fire if the scorch marks were any indication, had eroded the designs beyond recognition.

The floor bore the brunt of whatever battle had happened here. Beyond the cracks, the scorch markings and the bodies and bloodstains lay a grossly extravagant floor. While I could not discern what material the floor was made out of, the few gemstones I could see embedded within let me know that whoever owned this place was both wealthy and vain enough to supplant his floor with gems, some as large as my fist.

A fist that was small, black, and only contained three fingers. A quick look over revealed that not only was my skin pitch black, my body was short, ending in spindly arms and legs. My feet also only had three toes, and as I curled them the claws that they ended in left small marks on the floor. I lacked genitalia of any sort, as my lack of clothing so elegantly exposed to the world. Looking at the proportions of my body I'm probably quite short, as almost every object in the room dwarfed me.

My attention was then captured by the throne at the far end of the room, and the figure seated on it. A large crown sat on its head, the gold and jewels that adorned it still shining in the dim light. The figure still wore an ornate battle armor, and its intricate carvings could still be seen under the seven different swords that were impaled on it. Two daggers were run through the figures eyes hard enough that they were still suspended there years after all the flesh had decomposed.

The throne was as ostentatious as its owner, a large block hewn from gold and carved into the shape of a snarling dragon. In place of the eyes sat two large rubies, and smaller stones were littered throughout the body.

Whoever attacked this place wasn't looking to loot it, because too many valuables remained behind. This place was attacked with only one objective; to destroy it. And judging by both the bodies and the fact that the building was still standing, the attackers weren't entirely successful.

I took a step towards the large throne and a weight on my back caused me to fall backwards. I scrambled onto my hands and knees and felt behind me. Two soft and leathery things came out of my back. I flexed muscles on my back and both of those things moved.

I had wings. Wings that appeared too small to carry me anywhere. Flapping them accomplished nothing but displacing me further. They didn't seem to serve any function at the moment. Maybe as I grew they would allow me to fly?

After recovering my wits I began walking towards the throne again. My body felt strange; some part of me felt that it was alien, foreign. Yet another part of me felt right at home in this body, as if it was custom made for me.

This brought me to my second dilemma; my knowledge, or more specifically my lack of it. I understood the concepts of time, of mass and weight, yet I had no recollection of ever learning those things. I knew what video games and airplanes were, yet I had no memories of ever actually seeing one. It was as if the knowledge had been supplanted into me while I was in the void, crammed into me while my body was formed.

Well it isn't as if I could do anything about that. I may as well discover more about where I am. Something about the throne called out to me, and my senses sung to go to it. As I approached it I began to feel excitement bubble within me without knowing why, and I walked to the throne faster. When I did arrive at the throne nothing happened, yet I still felt that sense of excitement. So I did the only thing I could; I touched it.

Which caused the ruby eye's to begin glowing. A shifting mass of light coalesced between both eyes and traveled down the throne and through my arm before I could remove it. I jumped away from the throne before anything else could happen, but I could already feel a difference. I felt lighter, stronger, and I could see the world around me with a clarity I lacked before. Physically however nothing about me seemed to have changed. I was still the same height and my skin was still the same color. What seemed to have changed the most was the blue box that floated innocuously in front of me.

 **Race:** **Imp**

 **Name:** **Vex**

 **Lv:** **1**

 **HP:** **15**

 **MP:** **10 (Regenerate 1MP per hour)**

 **Skills:**

 **Devour**

 **Night Vision**

It seemed the box contained information about me, although where it came from I had no idea. I focused on the first line of text, that of my race, and it expanded,

 **A minor race of demon, an Imp is usually a servant to stronger beings. They feed off of the ambient mana given off by their masters, and grow stronger for it. While having access to magic, Imps are usually too weak to pose a threat to all but the weakest beings.**

Well that was emasculating. It seemed I was very low in the totem pole when it came to power. But it did mention that I could grow stronger, and a Lv option did appear. I would have to see how to increase my level, and quickly. HP seemed to be how much damage I could take, but the numbers didn't explain the equivalent damage I could take. I would have to see later how that worked.

MP seemed to be how much mana I had access to, but it didn't explain how to use said mana, nor what I could use it for. Focusing on that text didn't reveal any more information, so I would have to wait to discover it later.

My name seemed foreign to me, yet at the same time it felt right. There was no indicator as to how I acquired the name or who gave it to me, which I took to mean that had always been my name. It just felt strange because I had no knowledge of it before now.

The skills area is what mainly caught my attention. While night vision was pretty straightforward, and had been active since I first opened my eyes, Devour looked interesting. Focusing on it once more revealed a block of text.

 **The ability to assimilate the skills of beings and items the wielder consumes, Devour is an ability as of yet unheard of. Eating creatures or special items allows the user to learn any pertinent skills known by said creature or item. These skills can be turned off or on at will by the owner, and only beneficial skills will be learned. The strength of skills learned depends on what is being consumed, and skills will only become stronger by being used. Any kind of substance can be consumed, and decay and poisons consumed will not harm the user. In a world of survival of the fittest, Devour becomes an Ace with unlimited potential.**

That has to be the most broken ability I've ever heard of. Learning the skills of any creature I eat? The quickest way to become stronger seems to be to hunt and devour other creatures. Looking around I found a shattered shard of a sword. It seemed to belong to one of the numerous corpses that littered the floor, as the other half was clasped in its hand. The shard was barely more than a foot in length, but it would suit my purpose well enough. I ran my hand along the edge of the blade, but it seemed time had weathered its edge blunt.

Perfect.

I walked over to one of the vines growing along the walls and tore it down. I wrapped the vine several times over along the bottom of the sword, leaving a few inches of the shattered and serrated edge free. I picked up the flattest rock I could fine and began the painstaking process of sharpening each edge. It was mind numbing work, but it would be necessary; I was smaller than an average sword, and I had yet not learned to fly. I doubted my claws would serve me particularly well, so I had to find whatever edge I could. A blade, even a makeshift one, would drastically increase my odds of survival.

So, with blade in hand, I stepped outside of the building.

 **Authors Note:**

 **That's it for my first chapter. A chapter much shorter than my usual work, but I hope you all forgive me as it is the introductory chapter. I still plan on averaging 6k words per chapter.**

 **For those of you who don't know what Re:Monster is, a human with the Devour ability is reborn as a goblin and uses the ability to become stronger. Decided to use an imp instead of a goblin because most everyone uses a goblin, so I wanted to be do something else. This way my MC will have access to magic from the beginning instead of having to learn it later on.**

 **Please, leave a review.**


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